Recent developments indicate, almost beyond question, that when it comes to silver (and gold), JPMorgan is operating in direct violation of the law. So clear is the proof of this allegation that the only real question is why JPM is allowed to openly flaunt basic commodity and antitrust law? Before getting to the why, let […]

Several recent articles have highlighted a surge of silver imports to India, prompting me to take a closer look. India has always been a big buyer of silver and gold, befitting the traditions and culture of the country with the world’s second largest population. The population of India, more than 1.3 billion citizens, is now […]

This past week, the Silver Institute released the annual supply/demand report it commissions each year by GFMS from London. In about a month, the annual silver report compiled by CPM Group should be released. Over time, these two reports have become the prime source material for silver supply/demand fundamentals. First, some general comments about the […]

It’s now been four months since the US Department of Justice secured a criminal guilty plea from the former trader from JPMorgan for spoofing and manipulating precious metals prices on the COMEX and three months since that plea was unsealed. In its announcement on Nov 6, the Justice Department made it clear that it was […]

Reasonable questions should be answered reasonably. When such questions cannot be answered reasonably or at all, particularly by those with a responsibility for answering, something is wrong. A good number of such questions remain unanswered in silver and those not providing answers include the federal commodities regulator (the CFTC), the designated self-regulator (the CME Group), […]

A few follow up comments about the still rather remarkable announcement by the Department of Justice concerning the guilty plea by the former JPMorgan trader for spoofing in precious metals. Contained in the announcement was the statement that the guilty plea was accepted and sealed on Oct 9, nearly a month before it was unsealed […]

The hit movie from 1996, “A Time to Kill”, based upon the novel by John Grisham, had an all-star cast, including Matthew McConaughey, Samuel Jackson, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey and Donald and Kiefer Sutherland among others. It concerned the rape and beating of a young black girl in the racially-divided rural Deep South, the subsequent […]

Shortly after I posted publicly last week’s article, “Is the COT Report Still Valid?,” commentary on my article was posted by Chris Powell, from GATA, suggesting that I consider the possibility that JPMorgan may be operating in the silver and gold markets as an agent under orders from the US Government and not as a principal […]

There can be little question that there has been a literal explosion in awareness and public commentary focusing on the Commitments of Traders (COT) Report and the analysis of silver and gold (and other markets) in accordance with futures market positioning. No doubt the interest has been generated by the reliability of the COT market […]

Twice in the past the price of silver has risen in a short period to $50. It happened in 1980 during the Hunt brother’s manipulation and again three decades later in April 2011, when the price rose to nearly $50. Prior to the price run up in 2011, I wrote that a move to $50 […]

No doubt you’re aware of the massive fraud uncovered at Theranos, the high tech medical startup purported to be able to run any number of diagnostic tests from a single drop of blood. Theranos was a Silicon Valley upstart valued at $10 billion at its peak and headed by an attractive young woman modeled after […]

A new interview by James McDonald, Director of Enforcement for the US Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC), on Friday makes it clear that neither he nor the Commission has any intent to address the obvious manipulation of the silver market, conducted principally by JPMorgan. As a reminder, preventing manipulation is the primary mission of the […]

A year ago, I took the occasion of new appointments at the CFTC as an opportunity to try once again to persuade the agency to step up to the plate and address a silver manipulation that had been in place for more than 30 years. James McDonald was the newly installed Director of the Enforcement […]

No doubt that the ten-year anniversary of the failure of the prominent investment bank, Bear Stearns, and its takeover by JPMorgan is cause for reflection. Bear Stearns was a force to be reckoned with and held a storied past on Wall Street and its fall was a seminal financial event. To that end, there have […]

To be sure, there are many who reject out of hand, my allegation that JPMorgan has accumulated a massive amount of physical silver over the past seven years, amounting to 700 million ounces or more. That’s completely understandable, since I can’t document and point out all 700 million oz – and few have taken the […]

In the never-ending search to either verify or rebut one’s own findings, I’d like you to consider something different today. I’m going to ask you to set aside my highly specific allegations of wrong-doing in the silver and gold markets, mostly centering on JPMorgan, and focus instead on whether if what I allege is really […]

The big news this week was the filing of charges and settlements for price manipulation and “spoofing” brought by the CFTC, in conjunction with the DOJ and FBI, against three banks and a half dozen individual traders; mostly involving illegal trading activities in COMEX gold and silver futures. The announcement set off a debate about […]

In the annals of silver in the modern age, there have been two well-known instances of very large investor accumulations of the metal. First came the purchase by the Hunt Brothers and their associates in early 1980, followed by the purchase by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, 17 years later. The Hunts were said to control […]

Here’s a thought that I fully acknowledge didn’t originate with me, but from a close associate, even though it incorporates many of my findings. If it does come to fruition, I will gladly reveal my associate’s identity to give him his proper due; but in case it doesn’t, I’ll spare him any embarrassment for an […]

We as individuals have little or no control over the state of markets, all we can do is adapt to market realities. In the case of silver, the reality is that it is in the grip of a price manipulation. History shows that various world governments have often artificially set the price of silver and […]

I caught a good interview by Charlie Rose on Bloomberg TV the other night of Ray Dalio, founder and head of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund with some $150 billion in assets under management. Dalio has been making the rounds recently in promoting his new book, “Principles”, in which he lays out his […]

Here’s a recent interview I did with Jim Cook, President of Investment Rarities, Inc., for whom I’ve consulted for more than 17 years (where did the time go?). It’s gotten to the point where about the only interviews I do are with Cook, but that’s not due to our long relationship. Rather, it’s because he […]

I’d like to share what may be a different way of looking at the gold and silver market, but still remain focused on what has been the primary driver of price – changes in the COMEX futures market structure. It has become fairly common knowledge that prices rise when the managed money traders buy and […]

Before getting into the subject of today’s title, allow me to update a couple of topics previously discussed. Last Wednesday, I offered a review of world silver inventories in which I concluded that there were roughly one billion oz in fully documented inventories of metal in industry standard 1000 oz bars and perhaps another 500 […]

76 years ago, “Joltin’ Joe” DiMaggio was in the middle of the hitting streak of streaks that would come to 56 consecutive games and which has remained a major league baseball record to this day. That season (1941), the Yankee Clipper would bat .408 during the epic streak or more than 4 hits for every […]